Monday, November 16, 2009

Swine flu - get tested?

Suppose you think that your kids or you have H1N1, the swine flu. They (or you) have some of these symptoms (which are for the flu):

•fever *•cough•sore throat•runny or stuffy nose•body aches•headache•chills•fatigue•sometimes diarrhea and vomiting* It’s important to note that not everyone with flu will have a fever.(Symptoms from www.cdc.gov)

You think you might have swine flu; after all, you've been hearing about it for months. You need to go to work. If the kids have swine flu, you are supposed to keep them home for 10-14 days. How can you afford to miss work for two weeks?

Where do you take them (or go yourself) to find out if they or you have the swine flu?

1. Go to a CDC control site (there is none in McHenry County, Ill.);2. Be hospitalized. That's right; be IN the hospital; or3. Be dead. In that case, you'll get tested, but it will no longer matter to you.

Here we are, facing a pandemic or already in one, and there is no generally-available testing?

I thought, if I had the symptoms, I could go to my doctor's office and he would take a blood sample, send it off to a lab, and tell me the next day if I needed to stay home for ten days. I wonder how many others realized before today that, for all practical purposes, you cannot get tested for swine flu!

Is the US Flag at half-staff?

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About Me

In 1996 I moved to Woodstock, Illinois, after having lived all over the U.S. It didn't take long to get involved in my lifelong traffic crusade, because I noticed that many drivers, including too many police officers, routinely ignored traffic laws. My traffic crusade led to an appearance on ABC's The View, and two invitations to appear on Court TV followed.
I started my first blog on April 15, 2007, to address perceived problems with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department and some local police departments. I have also advocated strongly for disabled students in Woodstock District 200 Special Education.
As a practicing hypnotherapist, I have a unique practice in this area, providing sessions to clients in the comfort of their own homes, rather than in a sterile office setting. I studied and worked with a retired D.O. who had begun using hypnotherapy in her California medical practice in 1950. Often, clients experience past-life events and relate them to current-life situations.
I ran for McHenry County (Ill.) Sheriff in the November 2010 General Election and came in Third with 5% of the vote. That’s the one and only time I’ve ever run for public office.